It had been awkward for Careful at first, the two ponies had just seemed to stay hugged together and, with the sun gone down, he pondered slipping away. Then they started to dream.

Dreaming ponies, for a changeling, were the best thing ever. They were completely unguarded, their emotions running free, and tonight both Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor were completely so. Careful whined, he was full as could be, but the taste of their dreams, a dream they shared each of the other, called him and he crawled up the bed until at last he touched them, through the covers.

Careful was addicted, he felt the rush as the Princess of Love and the stallion that invoked her heart, surged their love and his snout curled into a smile.

"He isn't moving." Cadance looked down to the comatose changeling. "Is he okay?"

Shining reached down the bed, poking Careful gently on the nose. "I didn't do it!" Careful's head shot up and he looked around, then his eyes fell on the royal couple, and their smiles. Cadance began to outright laugh and neither her husband nor the drone could resist joining her.

After the three finally started to come down from the jolly beginning to the day, both Shining and Cadance spotted the shock appear on the drone's face. "What's wrong?" Shining reached out a hoof, beating his wife to it by a fraction of a second.

"I can't feel… the pull." Careful held his head up and turned this way and that. "A 'ling can sense their hive, feel the pull of it, no matter where they are!"

"Wing?" Cadance blinked, not quite catching what Careful had said.

Shining kissed her cheek. "Ling, Cady. Short for changeling?" Careful nodded absently, helping in the language lesson. "So what would cause that to happen?"

"Nothing, nothing should ever do that!" Careful started to tremble, feeling more alone than he had in his whole life. Even when surrounded by ponies, wearing a disguise that was far from ideal, he had felt his hive. A pair of forelegs reached down and pulled him up the bed and his world became pink as Cadance drew him into a tight hug, wrapping her wings around him.

"It must be hard for him." Shining didn't envy the drone one bit, being cuddled by Cadance was nice, very nice, but being lost and alone in a hostile city? Not something he wanted to imagine. "Cadance will need to go and get the nobles in order. Want to stay here and talk some more?"

Careful missed the question directed to him, but as he sank his snout in against the mare's neck, he didn't feel quite so alone and lost. He kept inhaling her scent, her love washing over him like a waterfall. Then something hit him. "Wait…" He pulled back and looked up at Cadance. "It isn't that I can't feel my hive! I don't feel the hive," he gestured with one translucent wing, "THERE!"

The alicorn couldn't help but giggle as the changeling seemed to squirm and try to wriggle free of her grip, she let him go, but not before kissing his nose. "What do you mean?"

Getting free of the best hug he had ever had, Careful climbed off the side of the bed and bowed down, deeply. "My Queen, your hive I serve."

Both ponies' jaws dropped. "This isn't a hive…" Cadance picked hers up first. "This is an empire not-"

"It is my hive, now." Careful felt his body warm up, he was blushing with a green tinge to his cheeks.

"I… am going to go and tend to Court." Cadance was a little shocked, she knew ponies loved having her as ruler, but this 'ling sounded completely and utterly devoted, his world centered on her.

"Let's chat some more." Shining used his magic, the pink power reaching out and plucking the ecstatic little drone up and settling him in the place Cadance had just vacated. "No cuddling though."

"No, My Queen." Careful climbed into the bed, the stallion beside him halting all brain activity as the title sank in.

"I… I am a stallion." Facts, Shining had to use facts to get out of this. "I am not a queen. A stallion can't be a queen."

"You are both the center of my hive, the rulers of it. You are my queens." Careful buzzed his wings as he got comfortable, the bed was nice and warm. "There is more."

"More?" Shining was trying to get his brain around changeling logic, not an easy feat for a buff stallion who knew where he stood in the world. "What do you mean, more?"

"She made you eat something." Careful squirmed a little, getting the covers to settle around him. "Made you gulp it down."

The words sparked more memories for Shining, he blanched a more pure white. "It wasn't a muffin…" Despite what he said, his hoof reached out and he felt it contact with a dark, hard, hole-filled one. "She… I couldn't stop."

"She did it, she made you. You know what it does?" Careful let himself be pulled into the terrified unicorn's embrace. He let his fire pour over him as he became the brown-coated mare again. "It does the opposite of that." Her softer voice broke through to Shining, the stallion staring at the mare he was hugging for support. She hugged back and the unicorn was wary of how good it felt to be reassured.

"Perfect…" Shining trembled as he spoke the word. "She said it would be perfect… what will it do?"

"The other reason I was sent, was to oversee your metamorphosis." Careful pressed her head against the stallion's neck, inviting him without words to do the same. "You will become a changeling, Shining Ar-" A hoof plugged the mare's mouth, just as Cadance emerged from the bathroom.

"What is this about?" Cadance looked at the pair, snuggled together tightly. "Shiny?" She was waiting and be damned what the nobles thought of tardiness.

"Are you sure?" Shining looked into the eyes of the changeling, he was begging, he knew. But it wasn't the drone he was begging, it was reality. Fate. "No… no that can't be… Cady… I, I am going to turn into a changeling!"

Cadance blinked, then blinked again. Her husband was sometimes cute when a little manic, but this was something else. "Are you sure? Careful?" As the attention dropped on the mare in her wedding bed, Cadance saw the disguised 'ling nod. "We will discuss this further, after Court. Shining, don't get too crazy before I am back."

"So explain again, why you were disguised as me?" Cadance looked at Careful, who was, at present, an exact copy of herself.

"I was in the bathroom, a maid came in and started cleaning." The second alicorn flicked her wings in worry. "I panicked and when she came to the door I took one of the forms I knew was allowed in here, and that she wouldn't panic over."

Cadance inhaled, counted out to five and then let her breath back out. "She was a little shocked, when she saw 'me' in here, then left and saw me outside too." Cadance wore a slight smile. "Quite shocked in fact. But I can't say you didn't do well." It was weird, but the alicorn leaned forward and kissed herself on the bridge of her nose. "Just don't do it again unless you really have to."

"No, My Queen!" Careful felt relief, she had been so worried when Cadance had found her wearing her that she had run and hid under the bed.

"And don-" Cadance sighed and reached out, forelegs and wings, pulling the changeling into a hug. It was surprising when wings wrapped around her in return, more so that the doppelganger even smelled like her. "Oh wow, you are really good at disguises. Are all changelings like this?"

"Of course not, only the best would have a hope of infiltrating your empire, My Queen." Careful loved saying the title, more-so because it felt like the mare really deserved it.

"Maybe it is time you had your own quarters," Cadance drew back a little from the embrace, "not as a punishment, but to help you build a persona for yourself around here. Hrmm, maybe I should have a new adviser arrive from Canterlot?"

Careful fluttered her wings in excitement, a mission! "Oh, oh, can I be an alicorn?"

A hoof booped the duplicate of Cadance on the nose. "No, silly, you can't be an alicorn. Do you have a preference?" As Cadance asked, Careful shifted back to the brown pony. "No, that will not do, ponies have seen that form around here already. Another?"

"I like unicorns, I don't have to think as much about ducking under things." Careful tilted her head and then gave a nod. Green fire poured over them again, washing away the brown mare and leaving a blue unicorn stallion, with brilliant orange mane and tail. "I don't need to actually hide, and I really can't since I will have a job."

Cadance admired the look. "You forgot a mark." She reached a hoof down and poked the disguised 'ling's flank. Fire rolled again and this time Careful had a book and quill as a cutie mark. "Perfect!"

"I remember messing up once, just as I was learning to shift. I made a pony that was striped, with two different cutie marks." Careful looked down over his form, committing it to memory.

"Stripes? Like a zebra?" Cadance stifled a giggle with a hoof. Green fire took away the blue stallion and left Cadance looking at a full-sized pony, with barber-shop stripes spiraling around them lengthways. On one flank was a changeling face blowing a raspberry, on the other was a pony trapped in a pod. The latter was a little sobering, but Cadance couldn't stop her giggles from breaking free.

"I have gotten a little better at it." The voice Careful used cracked and broke, sounding nothing like any pony, ever. The fire came again and remade the blue unicorn. "I don't think I have ever shifted form this many times in one day, before."

The statement sobered Cadance from her giggle-fit and she looked into the unicorn's eyes. "Do you need food?"

Careful lifted a hoof up, tracing Cadance's jaw before he realized it and pulled back a little from the intimate gesture. "No, My Queen, but that you always ask…" The changeling sighed, wondering just how he could prove to her how much he respected and loved her, over the mean old mare that he had been following.

"Good." Cadance wanted to hide, to ignore the moment. She really wanted to ignore that the drone looked at her with such devotion when he said 'my queen', but she couldn't. "What will old Sour-Plot do now, do you think?"

"If I don't send a message, she will likely send more drones. Drones are…" Careful looked down at his hooves. "Expendable." A hoof grabbed his jaw, pulling Careful's gaze back up until he couldn't look away from the Princess of Love, her element running strong.

"No, you aren't. No pony and no 'ling, is." Cadance's conviction was strong, stronger than nearly anything she had felt before. "Everypony… everyling, deserves to be loved."

It was hypnotic, the combination of love and power, it trapped Careful into actually feeling what his queen felt.

"Come on now, drop that and let's go to the station and welcome you to the Empire." Cadance booped the changeling again, grinning as their snout wriggled and their eyes crossed.

As the two left the bathroom, Shining dropped a hoof he had been inspecting to the bed. "Hi!"

Both Cadance and Careful turned and looked to each other, nodded, then looked back. "We are just going out, Shiny." Cadance knew that if her husband wasn't going to tell her yet, it wasn't worth really panicking about. "I am going to welcome…"

"Careful Design." Careful beamed at the clever name. "It will help you not slip and call me something else. Besides, noling- no… pony, knows who Careful Steps is. If another 'ling comes here, they will seek me out."

"That… did you just think of that?" Cadance was impressed and put her wing over the changeling. As they stepped from the room together, Careful changed back to the brown mare.

Shining, alone in the room once more, lifted his hoof back up and brushed the fur of his fetlock aside. Light shone through the hole.

Author's Note

Oh no, Shining! I think he isn't listening anymore, something has his attention!

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